Stereotactic breast biopsy has become the method of choice for the non-surgical diagnosis of many forms of breast cancer. Many breast cancers are discovered by the presence of microcalcifications visible on a screening mammogram. Yet, these microcalcifications do not have a corresponding palpable abnormality. Therefore, an image-guided needle biopsy technique must be utilized to determine if early, pre-invasive breast cancer is present. Currently, stereotactically guided needle biopsy procedures represent the state-of-the-art for the common situation outlined above.
However, though very safe and minimally invasive, stereotactic breast biopsy can be laborious, time-consuming and uncomfortable for the patient. The procedure requires the patient to be prone. In order to immobilize the breast, physical compression must be applied to the breast during the procedure, and the patient must remain motionless. Procedure times are typically between 30-45 minutes, despite recent advances in vacuum-assisted biopsy needle technology. A significant component of procedure time continues to be consumed by the film development cycles required for specimen radiograph production.
A specimen radiograph is an ex-vivo x-ray picture of the biopsy samples or specimen “threads” retrieved from the breast. Under conventional circumstances, this radiograph must be performed outside the procedure room on a standard mammography x-ray unit. This picture is required to assure that sufficient quantities of microcalcifications are removed from the groups of calcium targeted within the breast. This process proves that the biopsy procedure will be adequate for subsequent analysis by surgical pathology. The process of performing specimen radiography is standard-of-care for stereotactic breast biopsy. Each specimen radiograph cycle can last 5-10 minutes, thereby adding 20-30% additional procedure time. If the original specimen radiograph demonstrates a paucity of microcalcifications, additional biopsy samples must be harvested, and the specimen radiograph cycle must be repeated.